illustrated journal

Archive for October, 2009

I’m glad to have my own little place now, as life in the outside world can be confusing. For instance, you may think you’re working full-time when in fact you’re working part-time without realizing it. It is unlikely to happen of course, but that doesn’t make such a precarious situation impossible. But thankfully, whatever the world makes me endure, life at home remains reliable. The workers who were supposedly mending the roof / possibly destroying the house left their ladder on the stairs in front of my door before disappearing, which means I’ve had to walk through the bushes every day since I moved in. It’s good to know you can trust certain circumstances. Although I know that winter will help the mould incrusted in the building’s main hall to develop, I’m sure I’ll be safe in my own walls. Though events will unfold, so will my futon… best to go to bed now.

We all know the type. These people think they understand the world just because they’ve been to India once. They eat tofu, drink organic coffee and opt for a healthy lifestyle which involves yoga, shiatsu, and transcendental meditation. They consider themselves “green” and cycle to work wearing earth tones flax clothes. Well, much to my dismay, I am subjected to bouts of similar life choices. My tendancy to become one of them recently motivated my purchase of a Japanese-style futon for my new apartment. Against the shop clerk’s advice I chose the firmest (and cheapest) model, determined to adopt it for better or for worse. But one has to be careful with these things. Now that I have the futon, I’m already dreaming about tatami mats, traditional pillows and rice cookers, completely oblivious to the fact that not only am I not Japanese, I have never set foot in Japan. But then many Asians sleep on European beds nowadays – so where do we stand?

Tomorrow I’m establishing quarters at my sister’s single-room apartment in Bienne. She’s just vacated it, which saves me from going back to my parents’, a dire prospect for someone who’s lived independantly for nearly eight years. There has recently been quite a lot of sorting stuff and putting it all in boxes and moving out then moving in and moving things around only to move out again. All of that should be over until spring now, and that’s good to know. Also, no more cable car to take each morning on my way to work, only civilized buses and trains. Trips to IKEA (or phone calls to people shopping there for me) were running the risk of becoming routine. I know all about opening-hour rush, have visions of the shop swarming with early risers whose minds are fixed on IKEA’s free 8:45 AM coffee as I try to fall asleep at night. Finally, I’ll be able to have coffee whenever I wish at my own place.

The best part of working in Geneva is discovering lots of new cafés during lunch breaks. I knew Livresse before I started the research project and consider myself very lucky as my office is only five minutes away. Getting used to the virtual inexistence of lattes in the city and opting for cappuccinos or renversés instead only took a couple of days and I am now able to enjoy the autumnal sun undisturbed. Everyone knows I love cafés with a personality, and I love good books, so combining these elements won’t fail to make me happy. There aren’t any cupcakes though, so it doesn’t quite make up for the loss of Boho’s in Canterbury… There’s nowhere half as excentric around here. Is Calvin to blame?